Channing Tatum’s “X-Men” spin-off “Gambit” has been laying around in limbo for over a year. Director after director has been attached, passed, considered and or bailed on the movie. Rupert Wyatt, the original filmmaker on board, left the movie early on. Following his departure, several directors were courted for the movie and passed (Bennett Miller, J.C Chandor) and then the mutant movie landed on Doug Liman only for the helmer to drop the project very quickly (and much sooner than reported in the press). Tatum was rolled out during Comic-Con 2016 as part of the 20th Century Fox family, but no movie surfaced. Its release date has been a game of musical chairs and earlier this year it was taken off the schedule completely. For the better part of 12 months, “Gambit” has felt like damaged goods and Tatum has said more than once the movie was heading back to the drawing board.
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Now it looks like “Gambit” has finally found its helmer. THR is report Gore Verbinski, the filmmaker behind the first three “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie is in talks to direct.
Verbinski is coming off the two major duds: “A Cure for Wellness” and the expensive flop of “The Lone Ranger” and is perhaps looking for some career redemption. On the other hand, he’s a man and dudes tend to avoid director’s jail if they’ve made a studio a mint in the past.
20th Century Fox has been aggressive with its “X-Men” universe—three movies alone are scheduled in 2018; “New Mutants” (April 13), “Deadpool 2” (June 1) and “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” (Nov. 2)—so perhaps it’s not a surprise that the studio didn’t give up on Tatum’s pet project. However, it really looked like the movie would quietly go away at several points.
Tatum will star as the Cajun-accented, New Orleans-born mutant with the power to manipulate kinetic energy which he often channels through a deadly deck of playing cards and sometimes a staff. “X-Men: Gambit” has no release date as of yet, but the script’s been in the rewrite stage so perhaps a date will arrive soon.
10.12.17 Update: Following the announcement of a director, “Gambit” has found a release date and will land in theaters on February 14, 2019. That’s the Valentine’s Day weekend where 20th Century Fox found its massive “Deadpool” success. “Gambit'”s competition that weekend is, so far, Warner Bros.’ comedy, “Isn’t It Romantic” and an Untitled Blumhouse Horror Project III.
Here’s what 20th Century Fox’s Marvel film release date schedule looks like: 10 new films slated up through 2021.
New Mutants— April 13, 2018
Deadpool 2— June 1, 2018
Dark Phoenix— November 2, 2018
Gambit — February 14, 2019
Untitled Marvel Film— June, 7, 2019
Untitled Marvel Film—November 22, 2019
Untitled Marvel Film— March 13, 2020
Untitled Marvel Film— June 26, 2020
Untitled Marvel Film— October 2, 2020
Untitled Marvel Film— March 5, 2021